The new cultivar was discovered as a spontaneous, whole plant mutation of the unpatented variety Agapanthus praecox ssp. orientalis ‘Peter Pan’ by the inventor, Frank Benson. The new variety was found in a commercial planting of ‘Peter Pan’ in a nursery in Pallara, Australia. Originally 3 shorter plants were observed in the commercial planting of ‘Peter Pan.’ In 2004 a single plant was selected, which is the new cultivar ‘Benfran.’
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar ‘Benfran’ by tissue culture was first performed in a commercial laboratory in Dodges Ferry, Tasmania Australia, during 2004, and has shown that the unique features of this cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type on successive generations.